


Relax, baby

by Hoodoo



Series: The Long Arm of the Law [6]
Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Fear, Gen, Worry, care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-05 05:01:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15163226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hoodoo/pseuds/Hoodoo
Summary: Small chapter of Cop/reader: He has a bad day at work, reader has a hard time coping with it.





	Relax, baby

“Relax, baby--“

_“Don’t you tell me to relax!”_

Rick holds his hands out, like he’s soothing a skittish horse. “Shh, shh, baby--it’s okay, it’s all okay now--”

“But what about next time?!” you demand. “What about next time, and it’s worse, and then, and then--”

The tears you’ve been fighting burst like a dam, and you’re sobbing even though you try and continue. 

“--then you’re _seriously hurt!_ What if it’s-it’s w-w-worse and and and it’ll just be that you-that you j-just don’t sh-sh-show up! You just wo-won’t show up because you’re _dead?!”_

Your anguish overwhelms you and you weep. You cover your mouth with your hand and the sobs painfully wrack your body. Rick steps close to you, gathering you up in his arms. His badge digs into your shoulder. His belt and his radio hold him at an awkward distance away, and his kevlar vest is just a solid flat mass against you, instead of the contours of his torso that you’re used to. 

That he’d portalled directly to your place without changing out of his police uniform was scary enough. That, plus the fact that he was limping a little, had lost some hair to the heat, and smelled of the worst, oily smoke ever kicked the deep seated fear that lived in your belly to full force: that he would suffer a fatal wound on the job and you’d never know.

Rick holds you and doesn’t try and shush or placate you any more. He strokes your hair and lets you sob into his chest, the fabric of his officer’s shirt absorbing your tears.

Finally, your head feeling swollen, you’re able to sniffle to a stop.

You apologize; he accepts it. You tell him you’re going to take care of him; he lets you. You help him out of his uniform. You start the shower for him. You towel him off when he's done. You are gentle over the darkening bruise forming along the length of his leg. You carefully trim off the singed, curled tips of his hair. 

He tells you a little bit about the fire in the Mortytown ghetto. He was first on the scene, and he pulled two orphaned Mortys from it, at the expense of his own safety. If the act was done in your dimension, you know there would be a commendation. Since it was the Citadel, especially since it involved Mortys, you know there won’t be. 

You want him safe, you want him whole. Rick knows this. He also knew showing up at your door in the state he was in was going to frighten you, but you know that he did it because he needed you; he needed your comfort and support and he’d been scared too. The cold and heavy dread of your worst fear--never seeing him again--was his as well.

You nurse him, he soothes you, and you both comfort each other. 

_fin._

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place before "Abrogation", obviously.


End file.
